This is the latest I’ve ever gone home for Christmas. Typically I would be home by now, savoring the family Christmas festivities leading up to the Big Day. In my home there is a certain ambiance my parents provide that I cannot duplicate here no matter what. Of course, this is largely in part, because they provide the tree, the siblings, the lending of their wheels, the classical music tinkling in the background, the gourmet coffee, the high class wine, and the pasta. Nay, you wouldn’t think it would take all that…but all of the above is tradition. Granted things are a little bit altered…instead of it just being the five of us, we now have Josh added to the family….and Mariah, and Justin…(although Josh is the only one who is allowed to sleep over–an advantage to getting married).
Friends I only see once a year swing by, or I seek them out…we reminice, we gossip, we pet my parent’s overweight cats. This year we’ll truck on over to Josh’s eldest sister’s house on Christmas Day for brunch. She has two small girls and a baby on the way. They’re cool kids who are at the height of S-A-N-T-A.
Here in F.C. I have a small, scraggly, little fir tree with a candy cane hanging from it. I meant to decorate it more thoroughly over the weekend but my heart just wasn’t into it. I did make sugar cookies, with chocolate icing and sprinkles. I’ve been plying our milkman with baked goods and he has rewarded us with eggnog.
Our lives have slowed down. I only have two little classes to teach this week, and that’s about it. The major shows are over…thank God. The parents who dislike me are forever gone…a part of history. There are wrapped presents waiting to be put away in a suitcase. There are a smattering of Holiday parties to attend. We still don’t know where Josh will be working in a month, or two….or where we’ll be living.
Hobbes has developed a taste for ham…something she never used to eat. Over the past week she’s boycotted her Ocean Fresh Friskies…the dry pebbles no longer do it for her. We were worried she had lost her appetite, until we saw her scarf down a piece of ham left over from Josh’s graduation party. We bought her new food, which she crunched down…hopefully she’s well. The last thing we need is a hungry cat on her own when we leave for the holidays.
This year we leave on the 24th, something Josh has done before but I’ve always avoided. After many years of separation during the holidays, the two of us have refused to spend the holidays apart for any length of time. The downside is that we’re hanging out in F.C. feeling very little Christmas spirit.